I love this because it's long and it's got pockets
so I can go like this and hide my belly.
Hi, my name is Anna Solar.
I'm from New Jersey.
I'm 54 years old
and I've been going through menopause for seven years.
I usually go for the extra large.
I was thrown into early menopause after having breast cancer
and I am now into what I call regular menopause.
My worst thing, I think is not so much the hot flashes
and the night sweats 'cause I could deal with those.
It's the weight gain.
I am now 20 pounds heavier
than I was, you know, seven, eight years ago.
I feel like the weight went right
to the path of least resistance, which is my belly.
So now I have what you call the menopause middle
and I try to hide it all the time and I can't.
So I wear loose sweaters to try to hide it.
My jeans are tight on me
and then it ends up hurting sometimes.
So I end up like unbuttoning it
so I can at least tie my shoes,
or not have all these red marks on my belly
at the end of the night.
But I refuse to buy new clothes
because I feel like if I go another size
I'm just gonna accept it and no, I don't wanna accept it.
I really would like some advice on what I can do right now.
I'm at a loss.
I mean, I got all this weight
and I am working on getting rid of it,
but I wanna feel good about what I'm wearing.
So, Stacy, you had a chance to work with her.
I did.
What was the experience like?
There's a lot of hormonal chaos in menopause
that does not just affect us physically.
It affects us emotionally.
And her mood, right?
And mood swings, anger, depression, anxiety,
all of those things can happen on their own
or in tandem with other issues.
And her self-esteem.
Suffering. Absolutely.
Totally messes with your self-esteem
and weight gain in general
whether you're in menopause or not
is always difficult, right?
Because we're like, we don't fit into something,
we've done something wrong.
We punish ourselves.
Really, the fact is, as you age, particularly in menopause,
you're going to have some body weight redistribution.
But aging is really what causes weight gain.
So when we talk about the menopause middle,
it may not be that she's gone up a size
or two sizes or whatever it is
for any other reason
than that is the area we need to tackle.
The one thing you don't wanna do is try and cover it, right?
And make it super tight.
She said she didn't wanna go up in a size,
but why not accept where you are.
Make the most out of it.
(audience clapping)
A tent looks like a tent
whether there's a person in it or not.
Instead of grieving who you've lost.
We have to accept who we are.
Anna, come on.
Let me see.
(upbeat music) (audience clapping)
Oh my gosh.
I mean.
Anna, you look beautiful.
Thank you.
Gorgeous.
She is beautiful.
Gorgeous.
You look beautiful.
You just gave me a little chill.
I got chicken skin.
I feel like I did on my wedding day.
I feel like a million dollars.
(audience clapping)
That's the happiest I could ever be, right?
That's what I wanna hear.
But I also wanna talk about how easy it was
to do this, right?
You were taking long tops that were super tight.
Yes.
Feeling like you were covering your middle.
You were unbuttoning your pants.
You should never be uncomfortable in your clothes.
I don't care if you have to go up size.
You look like you lost weight.
Because you're wearing the right thing.
Yes, I feel wonderful.
I don't feel fat.
I do not.
I feel thin.
(audience clapping)
Now, couple things I wanna talk about here, right.
Always print and color.
We know color, pattern, texture, shine
from my "What Not to Wear" days.
We brought up the waist of the pant.
Ah.
We did a high rise.
Okay.
We brought the girls up with a new bra.
Yes.
The bra, life changing.
Because for seven years you couldn't find the right bra.
Now the reason that that's so important, right,
is if the girls are high, we have more surface area here
in order to not only do a higher waisted pant,
tuck it in and also have a jacket
that really cinches right at the waist,
The one other thing I wanna tell you, wider leg pants.
If you are trying to camouflage that menopause middle
start with a wider leg.
You were doing skinny pants
with oversized tops that makes you look like a tomato.
I say this all the time.
Yes. Yes.
Is that idea of being tight and long
is the initial instinct.
But look at this, it's almost like color forms.
This is pure geometry, short torso, long legs.
That's why I like Barbie.
Not 'cause she's blonde and blue-eyed, right?
But she's got a short torso, long legs.
That is the proportion that we always wanna do.
And a jacket like this, again,
creates a center line, visual line.
The tummy disappears.
The menopause middle disappears.
Yes.
(audience clapping)
(twinkling) (audience clapping)